The Many Selves of Social Insects

摘要

Social insects show multiple levels of self identity. Most individuals are sterile workers who selflessly labor for their colony, which is often viewed as a superorganism. The superogranism protects itself with colony recognition systems based on learned odors, typically cuticular hydrocarbons. Transfer of these odors within the colony obscures separate clan identities. Residual individual interests do appear to cause conflicts within colonies over sex ratio, male production, caste, and reproductive domainance, However, genomic imprinting theory predicts that the individual's maternal and paternal genes will evolve separate infraorganismal identities, perhaps leaving virtually no coher- ent individual identity.